Panama Tourism Doing Well During Tough Economic Times

Jan. 10, 2009 - PRLog -- While the world slid and then fell into recession Panama has been receiving more tourists. The first Caribbean cruise to use Panama as a home port has departed from Colon fully booked. The Enchantment of the Seas has a two year contract for seven day cruises with stops at Cartagena and Santa Marta, Colombia, Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire. Panama tourism is thriving in its own right and is a gateway for those interested in investment in Panama business and real estate.

Enchantment of the Seas Cruise

This Royal Caribbean cruise line vessel will call Colon, Panama its home port for the next two years. Colon has developed a Colon Home Port terminal for this vessel and its passengers. The roughly 2,500 passengers aboard the Enchantment of the Seas will be the first not to need to fly to Florida to board a cruise of the Caribbean.

A breakdown of passengers includes 30% Panamanians and 70% Latin Americans from Colombia, Mexico and a mix of other countries.

According to Royal Caribbean the cruise line targeted the Latin American market for this cruise. Besides the easier access to Panama’s Tocumen International Airport from countries like Colombia the other issue is that getting a visa to travel to the USA has become more difficult. However, Royal Caribbean expects to market its cruise in the United States and Europe next summer. For this season there will be 19 voyages. As of the first of January 60% of cabins are already booked for the year.

Expansion of facilities at Tocumen International Airport outside of Panama City, Panama is very timely. With the Enchantment of the Seas voyages the Panama Ministry of Tourism expects an additional two thousand visitors passing through the airport each week. Those additional passengers are on top of those already coming to Panama for tourism and business.

Panama Tourism Increases despite World Economic Troubles

Panama is expecting to have seen over 1.4 million tourists by the end of 2008. Panama receives 330 tourists per 1000 population each year placing it behind Uruguay, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic in tourists per capita. Considering that Panama has one tourist per year per every three people that comes out to a cash infusion into Panama of $333 per person per year.

Panama Tourism, Investment, Business, and Real Estate

Local companies such as ABPanama believe that a healthy Panama tourism industry brings potential investors, business people, and real estate buyers to Panama. According to ABPanama there is an educational curve that converts a visitor to a resident, expatriate business person, and investor in Panama.

Panama has the highest foreign investment per capita in Latin America. Unlike much of the world Panama is not seeing major layoffs on its construction sites. Credit is still available although its conservative banks still watch over construction projects doling out capital only as needed to proceed. It is this same conservatism, according to ABPanama, that has kept Panama out of the kind of trouble that most of the world sees itself in. It not just Panama tourism that is doing well during a global economic melt down.

For more information regarding Panama tourism as a gateway to Panama real estate investment visit the tourism pages of ABPanama’s website.

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Panama Real Estate experts, AB Panama specialize in the Panama property market and can advise on all types of residential, commercial or investment property.